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Category Archives: Sauvignon Blanc

While in the Marlborough region of New Zealand I went on a wine tour. Half of the people on the tour were 28 and under and it rapidly turned into the party tour and was characterized by excessive tasting and snappy banter. I think I had a good time. At least the pictures would indicate so, however I don’t remember what I liked from the tour, save a few blurry pictures of wine bottles I probably took while I was laughing my ass off. I deleted the pictures of myself, I’m still unclear on who took those with my phone.

Anyway.

Back in Houston, we’re a more sedate tasting group. With just one additional research assistant, we present our combined scientific data now before we finish off the lot and start taking blurry pictures and laughing our asses off. Our subjects:

Forefather’s Sauvignon Blanc | 2011 | Marlborough, New Zealand

Momo Sauvignon Blanc | 2011 | Marlborough, New Zealand

No Pairings

Forefather’s

Great acidity, crisp and bright

Relatively dry

Its light body and finishes quickly

Fruit, light but mostly on the tropical side; we say guava, pineapple and green apple

Unlike most SB’s we did not pick up any mineral flavors

Slight smell and taste of bell pepper (seriously, and we like it)

Pale, pale almost vampiric in color.

Momo

Good acidity, balanced.

A little more residual sugar but not sweet

Strong body that lingers

Fruit; strong papaya, peach, red apple, plum

A little mineral; shale

Smells of agave and tropical fruit

Golden color

Israeli Salad

For those who don’t know Israeli salad its just diced cucumbers, tomatoes with extra virgin and a squeeze of lemon. For this experiment I added a little Israeli sheep feta.

Forefathers was good with the salad, its bright notes, lighters flavors and low residual sugar worked with the subtle flavors in the salad.

Momo went Kill Bill Vol 2 and landed successive roundhouse kicks to the salad’s face. The tropical fruit and body in Momo are just too strong for the salad’s lighter, earthy flavors.

Tuna-Avocado Sushi

Forefather’spairs extremely well with this, its acidity joining forces with the creamy avocado and its lighter flavors enhancing the delicate tuna. Even its light residual sugar counterbalances the soy sauce I used.

Momo to sushi: “Really? You are just a piece of fish wrapped up in a rice coat and I am the Momo.” I think if it had it been a Spicy Tuna or Cajun Roll, it might have gained more respect.

Pork Dumplings

Forefather’s: Just OK. Its acidity breaks through the doughy case of the dumpling just fine but its fruit flavors become unfocused against the savory flavors of the pork.

Momo: Brilliant. It has enough acidity to work well with the dumpling’s case and its heavy body and strong tropical flavors, particularly the papaya, pair well with the garlic and ginger in the filling.

Garlic-Herb Boursin with Pita Chips

Forefather’s: The acidity worked well against the creaminess of the Boursin but then It totally lost it’s shit and mumbled something about never coming back – ever again!

Momo: Better, the stronger tropical flavors of the wine work well with the garlic and the acidity cuts through the richness. But, there is some discord with the herbs used in the Boursin. It was better with less Boursin and more Pita Chip.

Surprising results since I was not expecting SB to hold up with meat-ginger-garlic flavors in the dumplings but I completely expected the Boursin to pair across the board.